Too many wedges?

[Burnham]

T'was time, long overdue in fact, for the semi-annual clearout/cleanout/re-organization of the equipment boxes on my work truck.

These boxes are pretty big, need to be to fit an 066 with full wrap handle through the door...but over time they sure can collect a load of mess.

Anyway, I had the saw side all emptied out and was dressing up some plastic wedges when I realized that over the years I have collected more wedges than any man needs to haul around at one time. I use maybe 3 12 inchers, 3 10 inch hardheads, a couple of little 5 inchers, and 3 or 4 8-10 inch regular plastics for all the varieties of falling/bucking work I do...all the rest are just extra...20 at least.

Do I have a problem? :)

All cleaned up and organized now.
Pics!

[Awsomeclimber]

Wedge Master!!

WoW, that is a few floating around..

Candidate for the OCCGD of the year?

[Skwerl]

Looks good, B. Always a good idea to clean out the truck boxes once a year or so. And wedges are expendable, so as they get used up the old ones tend to collect. You hang on to them 'just in case' (kinda like all the old used chains in the bottom of the box) as you get new replacements and they add up.

Maybe somebody could use those old wedges as wear blocks when rebuilding saw scabbards or something? :/:

A dumb question- what's the string tied on the saw handle for? Is it to hold the plastic bar guard in place? The Stihl bar guards are too wide and fall off easily but Bailey's sells some plain black ones in 16", 20" and 24" that fit snug and won't fall off.

[Awsomeclimber]

Lol... " Just in case"..,. I know that well!

We had a little spring clean the other day, i need to drop out some saws from the truck..

Im sure i dont need 7 saws on board anymore?

I got them down to just what i need and stuck the rest in the shed

[Burnham]

Yeah, Brian...just a tether clove hitched around the handlebar to keep the guard on. The local Stihl shop gives 'em to me when I buy a saw...so I make 'em work.

[Awsomeclimber]

We had some Black ones.. once... they had a spring and clip to go around the handel..Such a simple thing, such a good thing..

I use the Johnsered boxes, they stack on top of each other perfectly.

Just had to trim the side out to fit the 46..

[NickfromWI]

Burnham, count me in!


...oh- this isn't a raffle thread?

[MasterBlaster]

I have three wedges. :/:

[NickfromWI]

I only have 2 and have on occasion wished for 2 more.

[Skwerl]

I just bought 6 more last week, including two hardhead wedges. They don't have as much lift as the red and white ones I'm used to but they will be handy for bigger wood.

[NeTree]

Burn... it's okay. It's obvious you're an addict, but you're among friends.

We;re here to help. :lol:

[Burnham]

Sounds like Nick's really willing to help!
:lol:

[NickfromWI]

Indeed. You have a problem. This is an intervention. I think everyone here will gladly pm you their address to help lessen you of your triangular burden.

We are here to help.

[Jonseredbred]

I use the Jonsered boxes, they stack on top of each other perfectly.

Just had to trim the side out to fit the 46..

uughh:whine:, the pain and misery those boxes must feel having a bastard Stihl in them. Its gotta feel like a rape.

[woodworkingboy]

Is it true, Burnham's wife calls him "wedgee" for short?

[Burnham]

Not "wedgee"...she calls me "wedger". Also "awesome".
:D

[brendonv]

That's alot of wedges, because of YOU I had to buy 6 of them at Vermeer the other day. Have about 8-10 now.

[Dave Shepard]

Triangular burden. :lol:

I cleaned out the cab on the pickup last night. Found all sorts of things under the seat, some of it was even useful! I now have about ten wedges, way more than I need. Those Stihls are looking good in there Burnham, no matter what anyone else says.:P:)


Dave

[Newfie]

I need to clean/reorganize the tool boxes on my truck. Maybe while I'm re-habbing from knee surgery. I know there is at least 20 wedges in there.

[Stumper]

Burnham. Ignore nick. Everything seems perfectly normal to me.... Of course mine are spread between 4 trucks.

[stehansen]

Not "wedgee"...she calls me "wedger". Also "awesome".
:D

She doesn't use that incredibly sarcastic tone does she?:D

[Paul B]

heck, I think I have at least a half dozen, I think I have used 2 of them..... :D

I get to kill a tree (crabapple, 25' tall and maybe 15' wide) in a few weeks, if I can find an excuse, which will not be easy, to use wedges I shall do so in Burnham's honor.

[vharrison]

I love the pink rope!

[Awsomeclimber]

I love the pink rope!

It sure doesent look like that now..That long since i used it i forget if its a whoopy or a loopy

[Al Smith]

Not "wedgee"...she calls me "wedger". Also "awesome".
:D Well know I always thought that a "wedgee " was the same thing as an undy grundy . ..

[woodworkingboy]

The department of labor declined to participate in this thread, so I'll post for them.

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/logging/manual/felling/felling_direction/wedges.html

[Burnham]

Interesting link...but no allowance for different lifts in different wedges, nor stacking, nor plates. Also, the diagrams conflict with the text in defining the "base".

I think the chart underestimates what can be wedged.

[squisher]

I had wedges as soothers:D. I wouldn't even know where to start gathering them all up.

[Burnham]

Soothers? Think I need that elaborated upon...or maybe not. :D

[squisher]

Ya know when I was a screaming, kicking baby. :lol:

[Burnham]

Ahhhh....:D

[stig]

As the society hostess Wallis Simpson once said: "You can never be too rich or too thin, or have too many wedges!"

[Burnham]

Never be accused of thin or rich, but as for wedges, maybe I'm ok after all :lol:.

[sotc]

haha, i find wedges all over my shop, carport, trucks.

[Dave Shepard]

I saw some itty-bitty bungees the other day, and thought of this thread. Here are some of my saws with their new Burnham style Scabbard-Savers.:D The Husky 66 is an honorary Stihl, so it gets a Stihl scabbard as well.


Dave

[Treeslayer]

you guys are too neat and organized. this is how I roll.

[squisher]

Lol, it's like you broke into my shop and took a picture. All the right saws too, except for that itsy bitsy husky.:D

[sotc]

i keep cleaning my shop but it wont stay !

[sotc]

hows come you aint out making money?

[squisher]

Took three days off this week, cause my arm is buggered up. Tomorrow I'm back to production. Hopefully it's healed enough, tendon/ligament stuff.

[sotc]

i see, heal up!

[pantheraba]

I saw some itty-bitty bungees the other day, and thought of this thread. Here are some of my saws with their new Burnham style Scabbard-Savers.:D The Husky 66 is an honorary Stihl, so it gets a Stihl scabbard as well.
Dave

Here's how I keep the scabbard on my 650...the cardboard scabbard extension is VERY customized...let me know if you need one. ;)

[stig]

When this whole wedge talk started, I told you all how we danes don't stack wedges but use iron plates to build them up.
Then I got to thinking; we use plastic wedges now because they are lighter than iron wedges, but we still drag 5 pounds of scrap iron around the woods.
So I went to a plastic factory and talked to one of the engineers about Extruded nylon, pounds pressure pr. square inch( kilos pr. centimeter, actually) impact resistance and other fun stuff.
It all ended up with me bringing a large square of 10 millimeter (about 0,4 inch) thich nylon, which I cut into little wedge plates on the circular saw.
This week I felled some seriously big oaks, using the plates, and it works GREAT.
Best part is it only weighs one sixth as much as iron, and those little plates fit right into my wedge pouch.
If you need pictures to figure out how we use them, I'll post some.

[pantheraba]

If you need pictures to figure out how we use them, I'll post some.

Pictures always help...please post when you can...thanks.

[stig]

It'll be a while. Even though I fall lots of trees right now.........525 today alone, I don't use wedges, since they are christmas trees.
Yes, the season is upon us again. I have about 10000 to kill this year, hateful work. It usually rains and even when it doesn't the trees are wet, so it's full raingear all day. That grows old after the first week.First big tree I fall, I'll get some pictures.

[Burnham]

Outstanding, Stig. I'll look forward to the pictures!

[Al Smith]

Aha,a plan is born ,from Denmark no less . As it turns out I have access to bunchs of nylon 6/6 . I also have access to a horizontal bandsaw .:/:

[Skwerl]

Al, if it's cheap enough maybe you can cut me some pieces for rebuilding chainsaw scabbards. ;)
Holler at me via PM if you want to pursue it. Thanks.

Pantheraba (and others with the Stihl bar covers)- I found a way to fix those dang loose covers last week. I grabbed a couple scraps of 2X4 and squeezed the plastic sleeve in the bench vise with just the edge lip sticking above the 2X4s. Then I took a rubber mallet and pounded down the edge. Then flip it over and repeat on the other side. No more loose bar covers! :D

[pantheraba]

Good info...thanks for passing along...it'll be one less knot to tie.

[No_Bivy]

I'll take a custom cardboard cover Gary:lol:

[stig]

I just realized I could fake it, just use two pieces of firewood to make an illusionary tree.
So here goes: pound one wedge all the way in, inset nylon plate and start the next wedge on top of plate. Pound second wedge in, remove first wedge, inset 2 nylon plates and start wedge on top of them, pound in wedge , go to 3 plates etc ad nauseum.
Usually most trees I work with fall after the second wedge, so I carry 2 wedges and 3 plates with me in my pouch. If I need more I'll fetch them from the truck. I've been working on training the dogs to bring me gear on command, but so far, no luck.
The advantage of the nylon plates are low weight, cheap price and no wedge shoot-out.

Sometimes we stack a LOT of plates to bring a tree over, I might have shown the elm picture before, but here it is again.

[Al Smith]

Wow ,that is one fast azzed tree to be tipping with a flush cut .

[fallguy]

Stig what are the dimensions on the plates? They look to be 3" x 5"? Good idea, its one of those that a guy says "Why didn't I think of that?"

[squisher]

That looks like a slick system Stig but for me when I need to I just double up wedges.

[MasterBlaster]

I just pull the rope harder. :D

[brendonv]

That's neat. My wedges always pop out when I stack. Wedge design?

[Reddog]

Rub some dirt or sand in between them so they grip each other.
They seem to slip more when new.

[sotc]

i like the idea but im a bit baffeled by the big one to :?

[Reddog]

Some need to work on their memory skills. :P



The big tree is a 14,3 ton solid elm burl, sold to a german veneer factory for 15000$. They cut it into about a square mile worth of 0,6 mil veneer for BMW.
BMW use burly elm for inlay in their top models, to distinguish them from the english manufacturers, who all use walnut.
So if you spring for a 700 series Beemer, you will most likely be driving around with a slice of my tree.

[stig]

Nope, Reddog!
That is a different tree, we sure felled a lot of really big elm trees when the dutch elm disease killed them all off.
However, this tree was sold on auktion in Germany, but I don't know who the buyer was. The owner of the tree was going to give it to someone for firewood, I convinced them to take the chance on shipping it to Germany ( not cheap!!). It sold for 5800$, so i had one really satisfied customer.

AL, it is not felled with a flush cut...............do you think I'm nuts?
The face cut has simply closed, so you cant see it in the picture.
The tree had an amazingly low and widespread crown, giving it a very low center of gravity, apart from the stacked plates and wedges, we also had a 5 ton Tirfor winch in it.
All because we were too lazy to top it first. It was right next to a house, so had to fall fairly precisely, which it did in the end.

[stig]

Stig what are the dimensions on the plates? They look to be 3" x 5"? Good idea, its one of those that a guy says "Why didn't I think of that?"

I cut them a little wider than the wedges I use (Hardhead) and about 5 " long.

[squisher]

Here this guy about sums it up. :lol:

http://www.expertvillage.com/video/7167_felling-trees-wedge.htm

[stehansen]

Now I know how it's done.:D

[MasterBlaster]

Gawddamn!

[Reddog]

Nope, Reddog!
That is a different tree,

Oh well, not the first time I was wrong.:(

[MasterBlaster]

AL, it is not felled with a flush cut...............do you think I'm nuts?
The face cut has simply closed, so you cant see it in the picture.


It DOES look like it was thrown like that, lol.

[Al Smith]

Nope, Reddog!

AL, it is not felled with a flush cut...............do you think I'm nuts?
Well,nuts is relative I guess:lol:

As for the elm I can't imagine why anybody would pony up that much money for one ,even a big one . I know that a big one is rare but other than split proof wood for wagon tongues or outrigger pads what is it good for :?--unless of course Danish elm is a lot different than American elm which is tough old stuff .

[Reddog]

Al, because it can look like this when made into veneer.

[stig]

Well,nuts is relative I guess:lol:

As for the elm I can't imagine why anybody would pony up that much money for one ,even a big one . I know that a big one is rare but other than split proof wood for wagon tongues or outrigger pads what is it good for :?--unless of course Danish elm is a lot different than American elm which is tough old stuff .

Apart from burl elm, normal elm wood is quite beautiful. We don't have many dark colored native hardwoods here, so it's been used for furniture a lot.
I've made lots of tables and countertops out of it, when I was into furniture making.
Something completely different. It was used for building pens for hogs back in the old days. Supposedly the pigs don't like the taste of elm, and refrain from gnawing on the boards.

[Al Smith]

I think a hog can gnaw through anything .Elm will bend like a green willow before it breaks and would make a dandy livestiock fence I imagine .

I had heard of certain grain patterns that were desirable for veneer for fine furniture but was under the impression that these were kind of freaks of nature .Much like tiger maple or birds eye ,fiddle back .

Then again you never know what the log holds until it's cut . You could rip a number three and it be full of figure or cut a fine and select and it just be a high grade lumber log and nothing extraordinary . Then too if it gets ripped it's kind of hard to turn it for veneer .

[stig]

Burl elm is a "freak of nature".
It is only about one in a thousand trees that have any burl at all, and the ones that are solid burl are really rare.
That kind of veneer is not turned by the way. In turning veneer, you cut along the growth rings, so the grain "picture" becomes unexciting to say the least.
Fine veneer is planed of like you'd cut a log, just in very (0,3-0,6 millimeter) thin boards.
When you make the absolute top grade, like for sounding boards for violins and other musical instruments, you quartersaw the whole log, but not in quarters, rather in hundreds. Each little "pieslice" only about 1/4-½ inch thick. Then after drying and aging the slices are cut through once again and folded out like opening a book. That is how you get the mirror image wood on the top and bottom of a guitar for example.

[Al Smith]

Interesting .Regular books ends are of course just pieces left maybe 2 inchs thick then resawn at a later date . Used for cabinetry etc .

Strange as it might seem I have in my living room a huge entertainment center that was originaly purchased in Germany .Book end matched raised panal doors .The kicker is ,it is made of American white oak .Go figure that one .:?

[Newfie]

Here this guy about sums it up. :lol:

http://www.expertvillage.com/video/7167_felling-trees-wedge.htm

Darn, I been doing everything wrong this whole time.


Engineers can be some scary fools when they get outside of their field of expertise.

[Dave Shepard]

It scares me to think of all the people who go out and buy a chainsaw and are going to go to a site like that for instruction.:O Reminds me of a joke we used to have at work. "Sure we're the best, just ask us, we'll tell you!":lol:

[GASoline71]

It scares me to think of all the people who go out and buy a chainsaw and are going to go to a site like that for instruction.:O Reminds me of a joke we used to have at work. "Sure we're the best, just ask us, we'll tell you!":lol:

Yup... that joker is gonna get someone killed...

Gary

[stig]

Strange as it might seem I have in my living room a huge entertainment center that was originaly purchased in Germany .Book end matched raised panal doors .The kicker is ,it is made of American white oak .Go figure that one .:?

A forester I fall trees for regularly use to say: wood is only worth anything, when it's been sailed around the world.
When America was first settled, and they started shipping huge logs of american chestnut, Black walnut, pecan etc. back to the old world, furniture makers like the Chippendale brothers were in extasy. Europe had been drained of that quality wood for generations.
I have a piece of white american oak, I bought in my local lumberyard a few years back, wood likes to travel!

[Al Smith]

I suppose it has to do with the type and demand for wood types as to the value .

I know some locals that in their own rights are pretty fair furniture makers . I don't happen one of them though . My best is just good cabenetry .

However some of these guys buy monkypod ,Hondurian mahogany and other exotics and pay dearly for it . Then too the local oak and walnut ,blackcherry, brings far more on the global markets than it would ever fetch here . One local log supplier ships the majority of his stuff to Japan .

[Al Smith]

Now ,back to this veneer cut out of the log .On regular quarter sawing ,the way I 've seen it done ,the log is first squared . The log is either plain sawn down to the cut or the side pieces are cut deep and then resawn on the quarter .The remainer of the squared log is then quartered .These quarters are flipped on evey cut there after resulting in the quarter sawn lumber .

The method as I understood the discription for the veneer is similar to what's called flitche cutting ,which I've only seen done on a bandsaw for making wood siding . The resultant lumber however has a taper .I wouldn't see where this method would be much good to resaw for bookends though . What would you do with the taper ?

[stig]

Run it through a planer, and the taper is gone!
That is why you cut it as thin as possible in the first place. It only has to be thick enough to slice through once it's dry, any thicker is just waste.

[Al Smith]

Well you could of course plane it ,probabley the only way you could do it .

There is a local pallette works that use resaw bandsaws for reclaiming lumber .Those things could shave it off an eighth on an inch thick if they wanted to . Horizontal roller table deal that use rubber tires for wheels with down feed rollers .They work slick as a grease on a doorknob .

[Dave Shepard]

I've noticed that all of the dimensional lumber around here for quite some time has come from Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic. We have a stack of rough sawn dimensional hemlock, but I think it cost us more to mill it out than the stuff from across the pond.

[Skwerl]

Burnham, I've purchased a couple of those hardhead wedges shown in your pictures and I kinda like them, but I wish they were thicker. They don't have quite as much lift as the K&W red and white wedges.

http://www.gypoclimber.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=12336&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1228336631

[Burnham]

I know what you're saying, Brian...but remember, thicker wedges, for a given length, have less mechanical advantage than a thinner wedge. Hardheads generally would be used for more difficult situations, where the lift comes under hard driving. So a low angle ramp is in line with that objective.

Cut yourself a 4x6 inch piece of that high density plastic Al sent you and stack a second hardhead on it after you get the lift started with the first wedge. Recall Stig's technique? That'll give you the extra lift you're wanting, I bet.

[Skwerl]

Good idea, Burnham. :)

[stig]

I

Cut yourself a 4x6 inch piece of that high density plastic Al sent you and stack a second hardhead on it after you get the lift started with the first wedge. Recall Stig's technique? That'll give you the extra lift you're wanting, I bet.

The thread about wedges and stacking them was what caused me to think about making those wedge plates of nylon instead of iron.
Since then I've shown them to a bunch of fallers around here. The reaction has been the same from all of them:Now, why didn't I think of that ?
Now everybody here are cutting up plastic into little squares.

[Newfie]

I find that the hard heads stack nicely if the situation warrants.

[Burnham]

Me too, Newf...but some folks don't get with the stacked wedge thing a'tall.

Different strokes and all that.

[Burnham]

The thread about wedges and stacking them was what caused me to think about making those wedge plates of nylon instead of iron.
Since then I've shown them to a bunch of fallers around here. The reaction has been the same from all of them:Now, why didn't I think of that ?
Now everybody here are cutting up plastic into little squares.

I think it's brilliant, Stig. Just keeping my eyes peeled for the proper stock to find me so I can make some too.:D.

[Al Smith]

Well,actually I did cut some nylon 6/6 for wedges last week or so .Several sizes .I haven't had a chance to use them yet though .

You have to get real creative to clamp them in a horizontal bandsaw .

I'll take a pic the next couple of days of them if I don't forget .

[Al Smith]

Here is a couple .They didn't come out as well as I'd hoped . I have 4- 5 more at work I haven't brought home yet ,slightly different .

[Burnham]

Wow, home made wedges too! Al, you are a wonder.

[Knotahippie]

Cool stuff you guys,

I rarely use wedges.

Had no idea there was that much to em'.